On the Cornhusker Kickback and My Man Tony Scales

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Thanks for the link, but, seriously, I know there are better things to do in Wisconsin than to be this publicly dim.

For the record, writers do not write their own headlines. (In an earlier life, this was something I used to have to explain to half-bright outfielders who did not teach law at major American universities.) Also, opera=Italian? Really? Wagner, Beethoven, and Clemens von Franckenstein would like a word here. (It should also be noted that Scalia is a noted opera buff, as is Ruth Bader Ginsburg.) But this part is seriously hilarious.

We know that the Cornhusker kickback — AKA the Nebraska Compromise — was a deal made by Harry Reid to get the vote of Senator Ben Nelson, the last hold-out among the Democrats. The state of Nebraska got 100% funding for Medicaid, unlike all the other states, so that extra funding to Nebraska approaches vote-buying.

Actually, what we know is that the "Cornhusker kickback" — a rightwing term of art — is not in the Affordable Care Act at all. Scalia was repeating something he heard on his radio or on his TV. It was eliminated before the bill passed. So Scalia was constructing his "hypothetical" around something that is no more part of the ACA than the public option is. He's just not trying very hard anymore. Neither, apparently, are many of his defenders.